Top 10 Java IDEs to Watch out for Quick Web Development

Time to delivery is critical for any business, process or project. And so are the quality and performance of the code written by a Software developer. If a developer has the best tools in his hand, then he can cope with the above challenges to a great extent. In today’s post, our focus is on the web development in Java and to acquaint you with the best Java IDE of our times.

You might be thinking, why Java and why are we talking about Java IDEs? Because still, it is the most popular programming language for the Web and used by a large percentage of Fortune 500 companies like Alphabet (formerly Google), Accenture, Intel, Target and so on. And Java/J2EE is a proven technology to build scalable web services capable of serving millions of users.

But creating best Java applications is not as easy as like cutting a cake. You need state of the art tools to turn your thoughts into reality.

Also, in IT firms which are handling large web-based projects and where Agile is the buzzword, a Java developer has a no. of roles to play. Not only he has to code but automate the acceptance use cases and keep track of the code coverage.

And being a Java developer, you might have wondered how to create the best Java applications which are fast, robust, and reliable. However, let us tell you that it would take more than just a great developer with excellent programming skills. And while working on a web application, odds are you might need to deal with a stack of technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Ajax.

Watch out Top 10 Java IDEs to for Quick Web Development

1. NetBeans – The Best Java IDE Sponsored by Oracle [Freeware]

NetBeans is the best IDE for web development as of today. It is an IDE which is created by developers, for developers with the goal of making development as simple and efficient as possible.

Not only does it supports enterprise web applications but you can also use it to create mobile and desktop apps. And it allows you to reuse your project workspace on multiple platforms like Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris from Oracle.

NetBeans addresses most of the challenges a developer might face during the project lifecycle. It will let you manage all tasks starting from analysis, design, coding, debugging, unit testing, code coverage, source code control, and deployment. Moreover, you don’t need any plugin for these features as all of them are inherent in NetBeans.

Your code might have untracked bugs which are hard to find and can cause delays. But with inbuilt tools like static code analysis, integration of FindBug plugin can help you identify and fix complex issues in the code. Also, the NetBeans debugger gives you a free hand for stepping through the code, set breakpoints, add watches, take snapshots, and track execution.

Moreover, it comes with a powerful code profiler to assist in optimizing your application performance (speed and memory). So that you can build robust, reliable, and scalable Java and J2EE applications. Next, it also includes a visual debugger for enabling you to debug user interfaces without intervening in the code.

You might not want to miss on Maven which has got seamless support from NetBeans. Resolving and adding dependencies take just a couple of clicks to complete. It lets you skip from undesired downloading / rebuilding of indexes.

Let’s check out what else make NetBeans tops the Java IDE list.

It has great support for HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES 5/6), and Angular JS. And not only does it shows code suggestions, hints but also support auto completion for these languages along with Angular directives.

NetBeans enables mobile app development with the help of frameworks like Cordova and PhoneGap. And it’s a joy to create mobile apps using these frameworks in NetBeans.

Also, with GlassFish and WebLogic, it’s easy to deploy any web app and test the end to end functionality. It infuses Java 8 support at the core and enables code suggestions to switch for-loops into Java 8 streams and lambdas.

2. IntelliJ IDEA – The Best IDE for Java Developers [Paid Java IDE]

IntelliJ IDEA is a slick, fast, and reliable tool for web development in Java. It is none other the featured tools development company called JetBrains who runs this product and kept it relevant to the market needs.

The company delivers it in two forms: Free community version and the Paid ultimate edition. The free version is to encourage students, teachers, and plugin developers. Whereas the paid version is for organizations developing commercial applications.

IntelliJ Community Edition

The free edition enables support for frameworks like Android, Swing, and JavaFX. It is also versatile in supporting programming languages like Java, Groovy, Kotlin, Scala, Go, Dart, Erlang and Python.

Also, the IDE is lightweight and brings a few other features like JUnit/TestNG test runners, debugging, code completion, code inspections, code refactoring, maven wizard, Ant, and a visual GUI builder.

You can even enjoy four types of version control systems which include Git/GitHub, SVN, Mercurial, and CVS. And there is Docker plugin to support the deployment of web apps. The free version also incorporates a Decompiler and a ByteCode viewer to perform Deep Analysis.

IntelliJ Ultimate Edition

For beginners, the free IDE has ample features to start web development in Java. More advanced users should prefer the ultimate edition to use the best of the features. Also, please note that this version includes everything available in the free version.

It has additional version control support e.g. TFS, Perforce, ClearCase, and Visual SourceSafe. Also, there are plenty of options to customize your deployment strategy using Tomcat, TomEE, GAE, GlassFish, JBoss, WebLogic, WebSphere, Geronimo, Jetty, and Virgo.

To ramp up your builds, it has NPM, WebPack, Gulp, and Grunt support. And it adds tools like Diagrams (UML/Dependencies), Dependency Structure Matrix to improve quality.

3. Eclipse – The Illustrious IDE for Java Developers [Freeware]

Eclipse is a new age, cross-platform, open source and freely distributed IDE available for enterprise web development. It was IBM Software Group in 1998 who conceived of an IDE that could penetrate deep into the competitive IDE space and be a leader. And that’s what led to the inception of Eclipse as one of the best Java IDE for web development.

Interestingly, Eclipse is itself an example of best Java applications as it’s mostly written in Java. It was always meant to be a robust, full-featured, commercial-quality platform for developing modern web applications.

Eclipse has all essential features that an ideal Java IDE should have.

4. Android Studio – A Java IDE Tailored for Android Developers

Android Studio is a modern IDE for out of the box Java and Android application development. It is relatively a new product which got released in the mid of 2013. Derived from IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio delivers the optimum turnaround on your design and code workflow.

The idea behind this tool was to accelerate the development process and help you create high-quality apps for any Android device. Also, when it wasn’t around, the developers had to rely on Eclipse and ADT plugin. Because of this, the Android OS was falling behind the competitors like Apple. And after Android Studio, Google saw a steep rise in Android popularity and apps usage.

Android Studio bundles a whole list of features that include intelligent code editing, debugging, unit testing, and code profiling. Let us look at each of them in a little more detail.

Cool Features.

Instant update and run make your code changes pushed immediately to the running app. It doesn’t require restarting of application.

Inbuilt and lightweight emulator installs and runs your apps within no time. It makes your app run on a variety of device configurations.

The next generation code editor provides a platform to write quality code, reduce time, and increase productivity. You get help from using advanced code completion, refactoring, and code inspection.

5. JDeveloper – A Free IDE to Simplify Java Application Development

JDeveloper is a powerful Java IDE which is open source and initiated by Oracle. It supports the complete end to end development and addresses all phases of the application lifecycle.

It offers an advanced code editor which increases the developer’s productivity with features such as code auditing, integrated unit testing, and code profiling. Apart from Java, you can utilize its visual editors for programming in languages like SQL, XML, PHP, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Also, it embeds a couple of tools to fasten the development process. One of them is the integrated WebLogic server which lets you run, test, and debug your J2EE applications. And others include SQL browser and PL/SQL editor to assist in building queries, browsing databases, and generating reports. Another stone in the wall is the WSDL editor which expedites SOAP and REST service development.

Also, two more tools to watch for are the inbuilt XSD/XML schema generators and service test runners.

6. DrJava – A Lightweight Development Environment for Java Programs

DrJava is a thin and responsive development environment for writing Java programs. Initially, its purpose was to acquaint the beginners about Java via interactive learning. However, later a no. of extra features got added to serve the advanced users.

DrJava is one of those IDEs which started to support test driven development. It bundles features like intelligent code editor, an interactive terminal for evaluating program output, a source code debugger, and a unit test runner.

In addition to the above features, it supports Java 8 and newer versions. And another useful addition is the integration with Jacoco tool for code coverage. When you run the unit tests, it’ll generate reports containing links reporting the code coverage.

So, in our opinion, DrJava is best suited for the users who recently started learning Java. They can build Java programming skills and then transition to a more business-oriented tool like NetBeans, Eclipse or IntelliJ.

This IDE gives due attention to ease of use, speed, performance and great user experience. It takes inspiration from Microsoft Visual Studio. If the users have prior experience with VS, then it would be easier for them to migrate.

10. GreenFoot – The Online Java Instructor and IDE

GreenFoot is a specialized graphical code editor which mainly focuses on training Java to newbies via interactive teaching. It formulates an environment to generate simulations for GUI programs and games written in Java.

The IDE has documented every functionality in detail and made it available for both the beginners and advanced users. It helps all of them in ramping up quickly. The IDE has a simple and straightforward user interface and comprises of a single window to model all objects and classes of an application.

GreenFoot has a target audience where all students, teachers, and trainers fall in. However, it inculcates all required features for a broad range of Java developers.

The IDE teaches object-oriented concepts via object modeling. It works on the idea of creating actors which live in worlds to build simulations, GUI programs, and games.

The GUI editor allows adding classes with just a click. However, you can add more depending on your use case.

It is also easy to extend a class or inherit subclasses from the base class. And that too, you can do with the visual editor.

GreenFoot has an extensive support of image libraries grouped into categories like animals, objects, buildings, people, and symbols. You can even use the examples to learn and start building a solid knowledge base.

Hailing with such interactive features, there are a large no. of institutions which follow GreenFoot. It determines to provide a Java learning platform that is easy enough for the beginners to write robust, reliable, and scalable Java applications.

Summary – Did You Find the Best Java IDE of Your Choice?

Finding the best Java IDE out of a flooded IDE space is like discovering a pearl in the ocean. However, we shortlisted the top 10 Java IDEs after a deep analysis and outlined their unique selling points.

We wish that the above review would assist you in choosing the right tool for development.

However, if you are using a different IDE and like to see it in top 10, then let us know what makes it stands out among the rest?